Grosjean sure of return to points

Romain Grosjean is optimistic that his top 10 grid slot at the Hungarian Grand Prix will allow him to return to the points following a couple of difficult races for the squad.

Grosjean rounded out the Q3 runners and is seeking his first points since Canada, following retirements in Austria and Britain.

"I think we got everything we could out of the car today, it’s good to be in the top 10," he said.

"It was a tough qualifying with the wind picking up at the beginning of the session.

"We struggled a bit with our first run but Q2 was much better. I really pushed hard and put everything together, it was a fantastic lap.

"Generally, I’m happy with today’s performance and proud of my team for what we have achieved. Tomorrow, temperatures should drop down a little bit which makes it easier, and then hopefully, we can score points."

Lotus team-mate Pastor Maldonado was 14th fastest in the E23 Hybrid.

"We had potential for Q3, the pace was there early on, I did a good lap in Q1 and placed in the top 10 but unfortunately we were not able to repeat this in Q2," he said.

"We didn’t have as good a progression as we would have liked, especially with the red flag, and then I locked up in Turn 1 which compromised my lap time.

"I don’t think this is a position that is representative for us. We’ll see tomorrow, the race pace is there – we showed that in Q1 – the potential is there so I think we can put together a good race and score points."